New Books

May 2004

NONFICTION

Under the Tuscan Sun - Mayes, Frances

Mayes's favorite guide to Northern Italy allots seven pages to the town of Cortona, where she owns a house. But here she finds considerably more to say about it than that, all of it so enchanting that an armchair traveler will find it hard to resist jumping out of the chair and following in her footsteps. The recently divorced author is euphoric about the old house in the Tuscan hills that she and her new lover renovated and now live in during summer vacations and on holidays. A poet, food-and-travel writer, Italophile and chair of the creative writing department at San Francisco State University, Mayes is a fine wordsmith and an exemplary companion whose delight in a brick floor she has just waxed is as contagious as her pleasure in the landscape, architecture and life of the village. Not the least of the charms of her book are the recipes for delicious meals she has made. Above all, her observations about being at home in two very different cultures are sharp and wise. - Publisher's Weekly

King Arthur - Goodrich, Norma Lorre

Behind the romantic legends of a chivalrous King Arthur and the courtly amours of his circle lies a real historical figure. While scholars have been in general agreement on this point since the 1960s, Goodrich makes an intriguing if highly conjectural case that Arthur was a king in prehistoric Britain. She builds a portrait of an Arthur who successfully staved off sea invasions before leaving the coast of Britain in a.d. 542 to be ferried to a secret island for surgery or burial. Goodrich sifts evidence that supports the existence of an actual Queen Guinivere and her vassal Lancelot; she substantiates Perceval's wedding and inauguration at the Grail Castle, which may have been an educational institution for princelings. Her closely argued study draws on fresh readings of medieval French and German texts. The investigation unfolds as a detective story that will grip Arthurian enthusiasts, Anglophiles and history buffs. - Publisher's Weekly

The Wordwatcher's Guide to Good Writing & Grammar - Freeman, Morton S.

A treasury of quick answers to commonly asked usage and grammatical questions. High school and college students, and anyone else who writes, will find this book a handy reference tool. - School Library Journal

When Bad Things Happen to Good People - Kushner, Harold S.

Wise and compassionate advice on how to cope with tragedy, what to do about anger and how to keep from feeling guilty. Since its original publication in 1981, When Bad Things Happen to Good People has brought solace and hope to millions. - from the publisher

Picasso : Master of the New - Bernadac, Marie-Laure

Who was Picasso: a public figure who lived his life in the headlines, or a private person, unpredictable and filled with secrets? This intimate portrait traces his life from the early years in Spain through his long residence in Paris. In it we meet his friends and lovers and witness his rise from poverty to overwhelming worldwide recognition. - from the book's cover

Picasso et Son Temps - Wertenbaker, Lael

Test your French. We have the English version of this book (Picasso and His World) as well.

Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life - Queen Noor of Jordan

Sharing a personal perspective on the past three decades of world history, Queen Noor talks frankly of the many challenges of her life as wife and partner to the monarch, providing both an intimate portrait of the late King Hussein and a moving account of their public role. - from the publisher

Beginner's Guide to Mosaics - Hepburn, Alison

Use brilliantly colored, beautiful tiles to craft stunning mosaic projects--even if you've never tried this age-old technique before. Sixteen creative projects, arranged in order of increasing difficulty, enable you to learn the various techniques and methods of working. Start by making a trivet using standard size tiles in a limited palette, and when you are ready to try cutting tiles, work on an eye-catching picture frame. Experiment with the "reverse method" while making a table top, and incorporate found objects into a flying bird design. The final projects in the collection focus on techniques that seem complicated but are actually simple, such as casting a slab for a garden and making waterproof items like a birdbath. All the necessary information is fully explained, including choosing tiles, surfaces, and adhesives; cutting tiles, applying glue, the direct and reverse methods of mosaic, casting, grouting, laying tiles, and cleaning and finishing. - from the publisher

Developing the Leader within You - Maxwell, John C.

Few of us are natural-born leaders, according to John C. Maxwell, author of Developing the Leader Within You. Fortunately though, "the traits that are the raw material of leadership can be acquired," he promises. "Link them up with desire and nothing can keep you from becoming a leader. This book will supply the leadership principles. You must supply the desire." True to his words, Maxwell offers a detailed and inspiring primer on becoming a leader. Even the Table of Contents reads like a motivational poster. - Amazon.com

Classical Music: A New Way of Listening (with accompanying CD containing 70 minutes of music) - Waugh, Alexander

An all-inclusive package to appreciation and enjoyment Here is an innovative and thoroughly enjoyable approach to demystifying classical music for the devotee and the novice alike. Consisting of a fully illustrated book with unique musical timelines and an accompanying compact disc, it teaches the reader to navigate any piece of music -- from operas to piano sonatas to complete orchestral movements. This handsome package offers: -- Clear explanations of all of the elements of music -- harmony, rhythm, tone, and musical instruments -- Complete information on composers, themes, and musical components -- Advice on how to listen to a piece for the first time -- A 72-minute CD featuring dozens of musical excerpts performed by world-class orchestras -- Visual annotated timelines that guide the reader through the corresponding pieces on the CD, including Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, and more -- A guide to 40 great composers -- Musical time chart -- Glossary of musical terms With its fresh insights into music of all types, Classical Music will turn anyone into a music lover. Alibris.com

The Complete Walker IV - Fletcher, Colin

This is the fourth update of Fletcher's 1968 original. This manual is considered the backpacker's bible and has sold more than 400,000 copies in its previous incarnations. In addition to information on hiking, this also includes tips on wildlife, tents and paraphernalia, outdoor cooking, clothing, etc. - Library Journal

Music in Western Civilization - Lang, Paul Henry

The celebrated history of Western music first published in 1941, with a new foreword by Leon Botstein. Lang's monumental history of music and musical culture has stood for the past half-century as the definitive work of its kind. The scope of the book is vast, beginning with the music of ancient Greece and ending with that of the first two decades of the twentieth century. But music is not viewed in isolation. Rather, the author presents music as one of the many arts that, taken in conjunction, form the essence of the artistic spirit of an era.

Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy - Sowell, Thomas

Sowell, an economist and academic, tells us that the target audience for this introduction to economics includes intelligent people who want to understand the workings of their country's economy, as well as students and economists who need to learn how to express themselves in plain English. He reviews such topics as prices, industry, labor, investment and speculation, and both the national and international economies. To make informed decisions, the voting public needs an understanding of basic economics, which will provide the tools for evaluating political policies and proposals in terms of logical implications and empirical evidence. Innumerable tragedies could be avoided if people stop and think instead of being swept along by emotions, rhetoric, or political pressure. The author cites examples, such as the profound problem of homelessness in Manhattan in spite of having more boarded-up housing than they would need for shelter, and the Russian people going hungry in spite of having incredibly rich farmland. Valuable information and insight. - Library Journal

Schooling for Life : Reclaiming the Essence of Learning - Brooks, Jacqueline Grennon

Brooks draws on her own childhood experiences, some entertaining but all illustrative, and her own and her colleagues' classroom teaching experiences to demonstrate that teaching can go beyond meeting state mandates and instill a love of learning. The book contains many practical exercises to stimulate further thought on how such instruction can be adapted to today's classrooms. Like David Thornburg in The New Basics, Brooks advocates bringing real life back into the classroom by presenting students with an actual problem and asking them to solve it, using knowledge and tools across disciplines. Brooks's inspiring book should be required reading for students embarking on a career in education, veteran teachers, and legislators. - Library Journal

A Pictorial encyclopedia of the Oriental arts : China

Two volumes. Contents: Volume I: The Yin, Chou, and Warring States periods - The Six Dynasties period (13th B.C. - 588 A.D.); Volume II: The Sui and T'ang periods - The Ming and Ch'ing periods (589 - 1912 A.D.).

FICTION

The English Patient - Ondaatie, Michael

The bestselling-novel-turned-movie that garnered 9 Oscars, including Best Picture. Four lives intertwine in this spellbinding tale set in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. "...an intensely theatrical tour de force."--The New York Times Book Review.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! - Flagg, Fannie

The author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe returns with another engaging paean to the joys of down-home southern life. Gorgeous, ambitious Dena Nordstrom is doing very well in '70s Manhattan. She's the popular star of a network morning show, poised to rise as the ratings-driven TV industry promotes appealing women to make palatable the increasingly nasty interviews that are turning the news into scandal mongering 'entertainment.' Dena barely remembers Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where she spent four happy years before her mysterious mother abruptly left town and embarked on a decade of wandering before vanishing from 15-year-old Dena's life altogether in 1959. But the folks back in Elmwood Springs remember Baby Girl, daughter of a local boy killed in WWII, and Flagg has some obvious but effective fun with the contrast between the townspeople's homey-to-the-verge-of-caricature existence and Dena's high-powered urban-professional lifestyle. Of course, she's not really happy: she drinks too much and has bleeding ulcers that send her, acting reluctantly on doctor's orders, to a handsome psychiatrist (who falls in love with her at first sight, natch) and then back to Elmwood Springs to recuperate from overwork. Readers may share Dena's initial reaction to the relentlessly folksy locals ('Get me out of here,' she commands her agent), but the New York cast of characters is just as cliched: noble, Walter Cronkite-like anchorman; sleazy network executive; sleazier 'researcher"/dirt-digger. The author does, however, know how to spin a rattling good yarn. Readers will find themselves flipping pages rapidly to discover what happened to Dena's mother. The denouement has a clever twist, and if the ending is not exactly a surprise, it taps into enough classic American fantasies about getting out of the rat race to be quite moving. Shamelessly corny and extremely enjoyable. - Kirkus

Fall on Your Knees - MacDonald, Ann-Marie

Much-lauded Canadian actress and playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald -- winner of several prestigious drama awards -- turns her hand to fiction with this remarkable debut novel. The sweeping saga of a deeply troubled Nova Scotia family, Fall on Your Knees is an anguished yet wise and darkly humorous tale that weaves deftly back and forth in time to cover five generations of the Piper clan -- from late-19th-century Nova Scotia to the battlefields of World War I to Manhattan's vibrant 1920s music scene, and back to Nova Scotia. An Oprah book club choice. - Barnes and Noble

Love in the Kingdom of Oil - El Saadawi, Nawal

In this rich novel Nawal El Saadawi again dares to confront major issues and questions surrounding a woman's role and position in a repressive, patriarchal order. A woman disappears without a trace. The police commissioner investigating the case inquires: was she of dubious morals, was she the rebellious sort? Nobody understands how a woman could simply walk away from it all, leaving husband and home behind. After all, in the "kingdom of oil" where "His Majesty" reigns supreme, no woman has ever dared disobey the command of men. When she finally reappears there is a blurring of the distinctions between the men in her life. She leaves one to become the wife of another, and when she eventually returns to her first husband, she finds he has taken a new wife. In many ways, to her all men are one and the same. - from the publisher

City of God - Doctorow, E. L.

City of God begins in mystery: in the autumn of 1999 the large brass cross behind the altar of St. Timothy's Episcopal church in lower Manhattan disappears....and even more mysteriously reappears on the roof of the Synagogue for Evolutionary Judaism on the upper westside. The church's maverick rector, and the young rabbinical couple who lead the synagogue, set about attempting to learn who the vandals are who have committed this strange double act of desecration and to what purpose, but their joint clerical investigation only deepens the mystery. A writer alerted to the story by a newspaper article befriends the priest and the rabbis, and finds that their own struggles with their respective traditions are relevant to the case. In fact, as the narrative advances, and the story broadens, more and more people are implicated in what may be the elusive prophecy of a new American culture. Daringly poised at the junction of the sacred and profane the book opens into a multi-voiced narrative that finally incorporates the monumental historical events and predominating ideas of our age. Filled with the sights and sounds of New York, and with a cast of vividly drawn characters that includes scientists, war veterans, prelates, holocaust survirors, cabinet members, theologians, New York Times reporters, film actors, and crooners, this dazzlingly inventive, mordantly funny masterwork emerges as the American novel readers have been thirsting for, a defining document of our times, a narrative of the 20th Century written for the 21st. - Barnes and Noble

Mark Twain : Novels and Selected Short Stories - Twain, Mark

Contents: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, Pudd'nhead Wilson, The Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The Stolen White Elephant, The £1,000,000 Bank-Note, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.

Holes - Sachar, Louis

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

A Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle, Madeleine

A well-loved classic and 1963 Newbery Medal winner, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time is sophisticated in concept yet warm in tone, with mystery and love coursing through its pages. Meg Murray, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are having a midnight snack on a dark and stormy night when an unearthly stranger appears at their door. He claims to have been blown off course, and goes on to tell them that there is such a thing as a "tesseract," which, if you didn't know, is a wrinkle in time. Meg's father had been experimenting with time-travel when he suddenly disappeared. Will Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin outwit the forces of evil as they search through space for their father? - from the publisher

REFERENCE

American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening

Many books claim to be a "definitive guide"; this is one title that happily lives up to those claims--and then some. Encyclopedia of Gardening will become your indispensable how-to manual for any plant-related topic. Indoors or out, you'll find information on choosing and maintaining healthy plants of all varieties, how to build structures from greenhouses to trellises, ways to identify pests and diseases, and methods of garden design that enable you to turn your lawn into a unique and personal work of art. The text is straightforward and accompanied at all points by close-up photos of techniques, ideas, and specimens. The handy glossary is ready with definitions for everything from bulblet to vermiculite, and two pages of seasonal reminders are a great quick-reference cheat sheet. Thanks to clear category separations and the easy-to-read layout, the information is never overwhelming, just friendly and helpful--it's like having a master gardener living in your bookshelf! For the beginning-but-committed gardener, this encyclopedia is the perfect starting point. With every question answered thoroughly and accurately, you may find it's the only book you need for years to come. The fruit and vegetable sections are terrific, as are the areas on propagation and water gardening. For novice and expert alike, there's plenty to be learned from this information-packed volume. - Amazon.com

The Encyclopedia of Nutrition and Good Health - Ronzio, Robert

Provides an A to Z guide to all aspects of nutrition and maintaining a healthful diet. Presents the findings of the latest research in the field, the health benefits and dangers of foods, diseases and health disorders related to nutrition, and more. Written for consumers.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature (4 volumes)

Articles on authors, individual works, and themes. Here are the articles on themes: Academic novels -- Algonquin Round Table -- Asian American literature -- Autobiography: general essay -- Autobiography: slave narratives -- Autobiography: white women during the Civil War -- Beat movement, Black Arts movement -- Black Mountain poetry -- Chicago Renaissance -- Children's literature -- Colonial writing in America -- Confessional poetry -- Detective fiction -- Essay in America, the -- Fireside poets, the -- Fugitives and Southern agrarianism, The -- Gay literature: poetry and prose -- Harlem Renaissance -- Imagism and American poets -- Italian-American literature -- Jewish-American fiction -- Latino/Latina fiction in America -- Literary theory in America -- Little magazines -- Long poem, The -- Metafiction -- Native American literature -- Naturalism and realism -- Nature writing: poetry -- Nature writing: prose -- New Critics, The -- New Formalism, The -- New Journalism, The -- New York school of poets -- Objectivism (Reznikoff, Zukofsky, Oppen) -- Poetess in American literature, The -- Popular fiction -- Proletarian literature -- Puritanism: the sense of an unending -- Romanticism in America: the Emerson tradition -- Science fiction -- Sentimental literature -- Short story in America, The -- Theatre in America -- Transcendentalism --Vietnam in Poetry and prose -- War literature -- West coast school -- Western fiction: Grey, Stegner, McMurtry, McCarthy -- Writing as a woman in the twentieth century.

The Oxford Companion to the Year

What are the halcyon days? On what date do the dog days begin? What is Hansel Monday? How do Chinese, Muslim, Mesoamerican, Jewish, and Babylonian calendars differ from Christian calendars? The answers to these and hundreds of other intriguing questions about the way humans have marked and measured time over the millennia can be found in The Oxford Companion to the Year. This work explores the history of calendars in general and our own in particular. The first section of the book is a day-by-day survey of the calendar year, revealing the history, literature, legend and lore associated with each season, month and date. The second part is a broader study of time-reckoning: historical and modern calendars, religious and civil, are explained, with tables for the conversion of dates between various systems, and special attention is given to the calculation of Easter. There is a helpful index to facilitate speedy reference. - from the publisher

The Oxford Companion to Western Art

Written by 100 distinguished art historians and scholars, here are 2600 alphabetically arranged entries, almost half of them covering artists from classical times to the twentieth century. Other entries discuss art styles and movements, art forms (such as battle painting, landscape, caricature, or stained glass), specialist terms, and materials and techniques in all media. There is strong emphasis on location as a focus for art. Not only are there regional and cultural surveys, but also entries on specific places of importance such as Paris or Urbino. Moreover, museums and galleries are collected under their city headword so that the reader can easily find the major sites within a particular locality, such as New York, Boston, or Madrid. In addition, entries chart the critical fortunes of the art of the major European countries, covering for example patronage and collecting of Italian art in France, Spain, Britain, Germany, the USA, and in Italy itself. The contributors examine art theory, scholarship, and criticism, from Aristotle and Pausanius to Sartre, Panofsky, and Foucault. - from the publisher

The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine

Library Journal calls it "an essential reference source." Booklist says: More than 500 articles cover the major diseases and medical specialities, national medical systems, history of medicine, and how medicine intersects with such topics as art. Examples include Abuse of old people ; Cardiology ; Cholera ; Evidence-based medicine ; Holocaust ; Japan ; Music ; and Sleep. Text is supplemented with photos and charts as well as margin notes, most of which are biographical. The numerous sidebars mean that readers will often have to rely upon the topic, disease, people, and general indexes and the extensive cross-references to locate specific information. - Booklist

The Oxford Companion to the Bible

Contains more than 700 signed entries treating the formation, transmission, circulation, sociohistorical situation, interpretation, theology, uses, and influence of the Bible. Despite its dictionary arrangement and the encyclopedic nature of many of its entries, this volume does not fit the mold of standard Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias, which focus primarily on the Bible and on means of understanding it in context. Unlike them, this companion aims to "trace the Bible's ongoing significance in such areas as the arts, law, politics, and literature." Entries written by over 250 leading international scholars reflect the current state of biblical scholarship. - Library Journal

The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science

Containing 609 encyclopedic articles written by more than 200 prominent scholars, The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science presents an unparalleled history of the field invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technology, ideas, discoveries, and learned institutions that have shaped our world over the past five centuries. Focusing on the period from the Renaissance to the early twenty-first century, the articles cover all disciplines (Biology, Alchemy, Behaviorism), historical periods (the Scientific Revolution, World War II, the Cold War), concepts (Hypothesis, Space and Time, Ether), and methodologies and philosophies (Observation and Experiment, Darwinism). Coverage is international, tracing the spread of science from its traditional centers and explaining how the prevailing knowledge of non-Western societies has modified or contributed to the dominant global science as it is currently understood. Revealing the interplay between science and the wider culture, the Companion includes entries on topics such as minority groups, art, religion, and science's practical applications. One hundred biographies of the most iconic historic figures, chosen for their contributions to science and the interest of their lives, are also included. Above all, The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science is a companion to world history: modern in coverage, generous in breadth, and cosmopolitan in scope. The volume's utility is enhanced by a thematic outline of the entire contents, a thorough system of cross-referencing, and a detailed index that enables the reader to follow a specific line of inquiry along various threads from multiple starting points. - from the publisher

The Oxford Companion to American Military History

More than 1100 alphabetically arranged entries cover every aspect of American military history--from Bunker Hill in 1775 to the Gulf War in 1991. Using everything from brief entries to extensive essays, this one-volume treasure does much more than list battles and generals; it "explores the changing nature of war and the military." Of course, people, places, battles, and weapons are included, but those expected entries are nicely balanced by entries on logisitics, the laws of war, propaganda, anti-war movements, foreign trade, war plans, politics, literature, art, and movies. Essays on the history of land warfare and the disciplinary views of war are particularly good. The editor has assembled 500 contributors, including noted historians John Keegan and Stephen Ambrose, to provide expert analysis, insight, and understanding of the American way of war. - Library Journal

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre

The standard one-volume source on our national theatre. Critics have hailed its 'wealth of authoritative information' (Back Stage), its 'fascinating picture of the volatile American stage' (The Guardian), and its 'well-chosen, illuminating facts' (Newsday). Now thoroughly revised, this distinguished volume once again provides an up-to-date guide to the American stage from its beginnings to the present. Completely updated by theater professor Thomas Hischak, the volume includes playwrights, plays, actors, directors, producers, songwriters, famous playhouses, dramatic movements, and much more. The book covers not only classic works (such as Death of a Salesman) but also many commercially successful plays (such as Getting Gertie's Garter), plus entries on foreign figures that have influenced our dramatic development (from Shakespeare to Beckett and Pinter). - from the publisher

The Oxford Companion to United States History

With this long-awaited update to The Oxford Companion to American History (1966), the editor has put together an extraordinary single-volume compendium of 1400 entries on U.S. history with the assistance of more than 900 contributors, including many well-recognized scholars. This edition is not only a resource on history itself but a measure of how the discipline has changed over the past generation. While the Companion continues to include entries on great people and politics, it also presents topics as diverse as the environment and the Human Genome Project and individuals as varied as Black Elk and Bill Gates. This especially user-friendly work is arranged alphabetically, with numerous cross references and an extensive index. The entries are highly readable, and most have a short bibliography. - Library Journal

The Oxford Companion to American Law

This is perhaps the best one-volume encyclopedia of American law to be published in a long time and will be a standard for many years. Contributors include legal and historical scholars, faculty of law schools, judges, and legal writers. The book contains nearly 500 articles arranged in an A-Z format. Articles are generally several pages long and written at a level that is easily understood. Topics as arcane and confusing as intellectual property law and torts are explained with a minimum of legalese. With the ease of comprehension and the thorough main index, the volume is a good place for students to start school papers. The bibliography after each article is useful in going further in their selected topics. .Numerous see also references direct readers to similar topics in the book. Cross-references are denoted within the text for easy travel between articles. Individual cases of American law have, for the most part, been left out of the list of entry headings. There is an index to cases though; that leads readers to the article(s) where the case is discussed. - Booklist

The Oxford Companion to the Earth

This excellent one-volume resource offers concise explanations of earth phenomena and processes, with over 800 entries written by 200 experts. Intentionally broad in scope, it covers earth-related topics, such as environmental science, planetary science, economics, geochemistry, palaeobiology, and plate tectonics but also includes articles titled "Music and the Earth Sciences," "Wine and Geology," and "Geoscience in the Media." Each entry is well written, with information suitable for undergraduates as well as researchers needing an overview. Many entries include brief references. The over 600 black-and-white illustrations are very useful, and the appendixes include the usual geological time scales, a very brief table of solar system facts, a periodic table, and scientific units, conversion tables, and abbreviations. - Library Journal

The Oxford Companion to the Body

A beautifully produced tome comprising over 1000 entries written by 350 contributors, the majority of whom are British academicians. Many entries provide See also references, and longer entries include suggestions for further reading. There is also a comprehensive index. The editors have succeeded admirably in their goal of providing a "seamless blending of science and humanities." Entries range from major religions and how each views the body (e.g. "Hinduism and the Body," a two-page article) to many parts of the body ("Fallopian Tubes" merits a brief paragraph as well as See also references, and while neither fingers nor toes warrants an entry, "Fingerprints" does). There are entries for professions that specialize in the use of the body ("Model, Artist's") and even for concepts, like "Leisure," with See also references to "Relaxation" and "Sport." Illustrations, including line drawings, black-and-white photographs, and full-color plates, are used conservatively. Compulsively readable. - Library Journal

The Oxford Companion to Archaeology

When we think of archaeology, most of us think first of its many spectacular finds: the legendary city of Troy, Tutankhamun's golden tomb, the three-million-year-old footprints at Laetoli, the mile-high city at Machu Picchu, the cave paintings at Lascaux. But as marvelous as these discoveries are, the ultimate goal of archaeology, and of archaeologists, is something far more ambitious. Indeed, it is one of humanity's great quests: to recapture and understand our human past, across vast stretches of time, as it was lived in every corner of the globe. Now, in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology , readers have a comprehensive and authoritative overview of this fascinating discipline, in a book that is itself a rare find, a treasure of up-to-date information on virtually every aspect of the field. The range of subjects covered here is breathtaking - everything from the domestication of the camel, to Egyptian hieroglyphics, to luminescence dating, to the Mayan calendar, to Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge. Every Oxford Companion aspires to be the definitive overview of a field of study at a particular moment of time. This superb volume is no exception. Featuring 700 articles written by hundreds of respected scholars from all over the world, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology provides authoritative, stimulating entries on everything from bog bodies, to underwater archaeology, to the Pyramids of Giza and the Valley of the Kings. - from the publisher

The Oxford Companion to Music

The Companion's focus is classical music from the Middle Ages to the present. In the preface, editor Latham notes that "non-Western and popular musics are included, but mostly in so far as they have had an impact on the Western classical tradition." Over 100 scholars and writers contributed to the more than 8,000 entries. Entries, arranged alphabetically, vary in length from one or two lines (Orchestral score; Rite of Spring, The) to several pages (Copyright; Form; Handel, George Frideric; Pianoforte). Biographies (of composers, artists, etc.), instruments, well-known works, countries, societies, musical terms and types, and sociocultural aspects (Music on the Internet, Politics and music) are all covered. Nine major multipage essays on topics such as "The Baroque Era" and "Opera" are printed on a light gray background and arranged in sections. The writing is accessible to a wide range of users, from students and professional musicians to the general reader and listener. - Booklist (Reference Books Bulletin)

The Oxford Companion to Chaucer

With over 2,000 entries from an international team of scholars, this new Oxford Companion provides a wealth of clear, up-to-date assessments on all aspects of Chaucer. Entries, both short and long, from "Aaron" to "Zodiac," provide information on Chaucer's life and times, his works and the characteristics in them, his language and meter, his reading and the creative uses he made of it, and on his major moral and literary themes. Extensive reference is also made to the development of critical opinion about his works over the centuries. Complete with a chronology, a note to readers, illustrations, and extensive cross-referencing. - from the publisher

The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World

The aim of this ambitious one-volume encyclopedia is to provide a "comprehensive guide to international relations and national domestic policies throughout the world," with a clear emphasis on post-World War II events. An impressive international assortment of nearly 500 contributors has prepared 650 mini-essays. However, the editors promise that this volume features "cutting-edge interpretation and analysis" of the current situation in world politics. Within one alphabetical arrangement are found essays on every country; brief biographies of political leaders and intellectual figures (e.g., George Kennan, Franz Fanon, Malcolm X, Vaclav Havel); 21 broad interpretive essays (covering, for instance, democracy, elites, class and politics, war, and gender and politics); concepts; treaties; forms of government; historical events; issues; and organizations. Many of the essays cover very specific topics--e.g., AIDS, genocide, tribalism, Tiananmen Square, Chernobyl, Roe v. Wade , the domino theory, contras, gay and lesbian politics--and provide a solid starting point for further research. Each essay contains a brief bibliography, and cross-references proliferate throughout the volume. A detailed index further enhances the usefulness. - Library Journal

The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature

This opulent companion offers the general reader help of every kind in the understanding of classical literature. More than a handbook of authors and titles, the guide illumines the faded images of mythological and historical figures, as well as providing articles on general topics: e.g., genre, theater, politics, religion, the transmission of texts through the Renaissance, and such intimate mysteries as meter. Articles on contemporary social mores and religious beliefs help explain literary references, while the glories of philosophy, science, and art are celebrated from Cynics to Stoics, astronomy to water-clocks, and flute competitions to vase painting. Helpful maps supplement geographical entries, a chronological table provides an overview of the main historical and literary events, and a systematic set of cross-references links the entries. - Library Journal

The Oxford Companion to American Literature

With over 5,000 total entries, The Oxford Companion to American Literature reflects the dynamic balance between past and contemporary literature, surveying virtually every aspect of our national literature, from the Pulitzer Prize to pulp fiction, and from Walt Whitman to William F. Buckley, Jr. There are over 2,000 biographical profiles of important American authors (with information regarding their style, subjects, and major works) and influential foreign writers as well as other figures who have been important in the nation's social and cultural history. There are more than 1,100 full summaries of important American novels, stories, essays, poems (with verse form noted), plays, biographies and autobiographies, tracts, narratives, and histories. And this edition provides historical background and astute commentary on literary schools and movements, literary awards, magazines, newspapers, and a wide variety of other matters directly related to writing in America. Finally, the book is thoroughly cross-referenced and features an extensive and fully updated index of literary and social history. - from the publisher